New Delhi

An alarming increase in the activity of Naxals has been detected by security agencies recently in Kerala where the Left Wing Extremists have started perpetrating violent acts by espousing the cause of tribals.

Officials said security agencies have found that the Western Ghats Special Zonal Committee of the CPI (Maoist) have launched a “series of actions” in the southern state, begining with vandalising forest department establishments in Wayanad and Palakkad districts recently.

There are ten identified Naxal violence-affected states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar and Maharashtra.

“The red extremists are raising issues of alleged environmental pollution due to mining and other quarrying activities and the high-handedness of police and forest department officials which leads to the dispalcement of tribals from these areas. They are trying to take up cudgels on behalf of tribals and their rights,” they said.

They said these developments are alarming as “Kerala has never seen such incidents occuring with so much stead in the recent past.”

There had been some reports of Naxal activities in the state in the period between 1960-70s.

The agencies have specifically found that the Maoists, through their local communication channels, are trying to highlight the alleged “misreable” condition of the tribals of Manjeeri area of Malappuram district.

“They are spreading the message that the tribals’ plight in the state and in these specific areas is because of the indifference of forest and tribal welfare departments and alleged inaction by the state police,” they said.

The agencies have informed the security establishment that Maoists have raised an armed squad in Malappuram district to unleash violence against state government officials and police.

The spurt in activities of Naxals in Kerala, apart from the existing ten LWE-hit states, has caused serious thinking in the security establishment which is already taking steps to curb the violent movement in these regions with the deployment of central paramilitary forces for operations and launching of social welfare and development schemes in the affected areas.

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